Allahabad: Allahabad is one of the most prominent and fast growing cities of Uttar Pradesh. It is one of the five CABAL towns ( Cawnpore, Allahabad, Banaras, Agra and Lucknow) of U.P. It is situated in the south eastern part of Uttar Pradesh at the confluence of rivers Ganga, Jamuna and mythological Saraswati. It covers the eastern tip of Ganga Jamuna Doab and forms a sort of cultural divide between western U.P. and eastern U.P. Allahabad formerly known as Prayag has pre-historic roots. It is believed that after the churning of the seven seas by gods and demons, the first place of resting of the pot of Amrit ( Nector) was Prayag. The other three places were Haridwar, Nasik and Ujjain. Full Kumbh Mela is organized at Allahabad every twelve years for the celebration of the event. In between, Ardh-Kumbh is celebrated at Allahabad six years after every Kumbh Mela. Sangam ( the confluence of rivers Ganga, Jamuna and Saraswati ) is one of the holiest of holy places in India, with a number of temples and ghats. People from all over the country have a yearning to take a dip at Sangam and visit the temples of Shiva and Hanuman on the banks of the river.
It is believed that Ram, Lakshman and Sita spent some time at the ashram of rishi Bhardwaj at Prayag before moving on to Chitrakoot. During the times of Mahabharat, Kurus built the town known as Kaushambi near Prayag to serve as their capital. Allahabad is the oldest city of India and it has witnessed the rise and fall of a number of empires and dynasties during the last few millenniums. Strong fortifications existed at Prayag at the junction of Ganga and Jamuna in 312 BC. Magasthenes the ambassador of Seleucus visited Prayag in 300 BC. Prayag has been part of the Maurya, Gupta and Kushan empires. Pillars with edicts of Emperor Ashok dating back to 240 BC have been found at Prayag. During medieval times, Allahabad was occupied by rulers of Kannauj, Sultans of Delhi, Moghuls and Marathas. During this period, emperor Akbar built a fort on the banks of the sangam and named Prayag as Ilahabad ( the place of god ) in 1575. After the battle of Buxar, Allahabad was captured by the British forces in the year 1765 and they established a garrison in the fort of Allahabad. The name of the city was subsequently changed to Allahabad by the British in the year 1833 and it became the capital of ceded and conquered territories of the British in the region. Allahabad was also the capital of India for a day in 1858, when Lord Canning moved his headquarters from Calcutta to Allahabad and issued the proclamation of the British Government about transfer of power from East India Company to the British Crown in 1958. Subsequently, Allahabad became the capital of North Western Provinces in 1958. After the formation of the United provinces of Agra and Oudh, Allahabad was the capital of UP from 1902 to 1920. Thereafter, Lucknow became the capital of U.P. Allahabad has the unique distinction of providing five prime ministers to the country- Jawahar Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Vishwanath Pratap Singh and Rajiv Gandhi.
University of Allahabad: Allahabad University is one of the oldest universities, of India. It was established in 1887. Calcutta, Bombay and Madras universities were the only universities established in India before the establishment of Allahabad University. In the beginning Allahabad University was functioning as an examining body and degree conferring institution like Calcutta, Bombay and Madras Universities. With the passage of Indian Universities Act in 1904, the jurisdiction of Allahabad University was limited to United Provinces of Agra and Awadh, Central Provinces including Berar, Ajmer, Mewar and the princely states of Rajputana and central agencies. With the promulgation of Allahabad University Act of 1921, Allahabad University became a residential university centred round Muir Central College, which had been established in 1873. Other departments were added in course of time and gradually, Allahabad University became one of the leading and most prestigious universities of India. During all these years, the alumni and faculty of Allahabad University have made a substantial contribution for the enrichment of academic and cultural life of the country. There was a time, when most of the departments of the university had renowned persons of national and international standing as members of the faculty and the alumni included some of the all time greats, who considered it as a privilelge of a lifetime for getting an opportunity to pass through the portals of the university.
Anand Bhawan and Swaraj Bhawan: Moti Lal Nehru was a flourishing lawyer of Allahabad. He purchased a bunglow on Church Road Allahabad in 1900. It was a palatial mansion, standing on a sprawling estate, which was in a state of utter neglect and disrepair at that time. The bunglow earlier belonged to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the great muslim leader and educationist of the nineteenth century. The purchase price of the whole estate was Rs 19000 which was a huge sum at that time. Moti Lal Nehru tastefully renovated the whole estate and utilized his trips to the privy council in London for bringing the best fittings, furnishings and furniture for the palatial building, which was subsequently, named as Anand Bhawan and became the official residence of the Nehru family. Moti Lal Nehru was a prominent member of the Indian National Congress and subsequently, with the rise of his son Jawahar Lal Nehru in Indian National Congress most of the congress leaders and party activists used to visit the house of the Nehru family frequently and by 1920 Anand Bhavan became the unofficial headquarters of the All India Congress Committee and Indian Independence Movement. Ultimately, Moti Lal Nehru donated it to Indian National Congress in 1930 and it was renamed as Swarj Bhavan. At the same time, another building was constructed in the estate, which was named as Anand Bhavan to serve as the residence of the Nehru family. Indira Gandhi the daughter of Jawahar Lal Nehru and former prime minister of India dedicated Anand Bhavan to the nation in 1970 and turned it into a museum which exhibits the books, artifacts and memorabilia of the Nehru family.
Civil Lines: Development of Civil Lines at Allahabad was the first town planning project of the country before Lutyens New Delhi made the headlines. During the Indian independence struggle of 1857, six hundred Mews living in eight villages scattered over the area were killed or ousted and the land was developed as a white town for providing living accommodation to the British people. The architect was Cuthbert Bensley Thornhill, who had opted for a grid pattern for the layout of the roads and had made provision for three to five acre plots of land for the development of luxurious residences built in colonial style. In course of time, Civil Lines took the form of business district of Allahabad and became the cherished living area of the elite due to its open surroundings, urban setting and flowering green trees .
Harijan Ashram: At the time of transfer of power to India in 1947, the avenues for employment and opportunities for socially useful productive work were extremely limited and almost 80% people of the country were struggling to make the two ends meet. That was the time when the number of affluent persons in the country could be counted on fingers and at best the number of such persons in the country touched about 1%. As such after independence, a lot of attention was focused on ameliorating the lot of socially and economically backward people, who had gone through decades and centuries of socio-economic neglect. People belonging to the lowest rungs of the society were grouped under the categories of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and specific provisions were made in the constitution of the country for lifting them up and bringing them in the main stream. Provisions were made for boosting up the educational levels of people belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes by starting new schools from primary level to college level catering exclusively for their needs. Incentives and reservations were provided for enabling the people of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes to find suitable opportunities for employment. Special coaching institutions and centres were opened for preparing the candidates of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes for appearing in the competitive examinations conducted for the recruitment to central services. Harijan Ashram at Allahabad was one such institution sponsored and developed for meeting the social and educational needs of candidates belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. It was a residential institution and was deeply involved in running schools and colleges from primary level to the college level.
Shankar Saran, the retired judge of Allahabad High Court and Custodian General of India was the President and Vishwamitra, a leading advocate of Allahabad High Court was the treasurer of Harijan Ashram. Since, Shankar Saran and Vishwamitra were associated as President and Secretary of Civil Engineering School Allahabad, Harijan Ashram and Civil Engineering School became something like sister institutions, although both the institutions were independent and had no formal links with each other.